Small Business Use of Social Media is Growing Fast [infographic]

Small business use of social media marketing doubled from 2009 to 2010. Yet, there is still enourmous room for growth. In the cool infographic below [hat tip to Social Media Examiner for bringing it to my attention] you'll see that only 8% of small businesses are using business blogs as a means of building visibility, connecting with customers and generating leads. What???

Click on the image to see the infographic full size. At the bottom you'll find sources of the stats.

My concern is that many businesses haveno plan for their social media marketing and they forsake all control by not using a blog as their primary online real estate. In the words of John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing, "Facebook is not the house.". You merely rent space on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social sites. You don't control them and you operate based on their terms. Not only that, your message can easily get lost or not seen at all due to the unrelenting flow of content on those sites.

Use social media to bring your fans and followers and connections back to your "house" where they can engage with you with no distraction and get your message and how you solve their problems, loud and clear.

What do you think of the stats and how small businesses are using social media? Let's discuss in the comments!

About Denise Wakeman

Denise Wakeman's motto is "Just say yes!" After a life-changing trek in the Peruvian Andes, she embraced her inner Adventurer and ditched the black business suits for a knapsack and hiking boots. As long as there’s wifi, Denise is a happy glamper. She’s an early adopter and active experimenter, and loves helping authors and online entrepreneurs navigate the journey of growing their business on the Web with online marketing strategies. Connect with Denise on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.

Great article Denise! I particularly like your thoughts on the controllable “real estate”. Putting the pieces of the jigsaw together to make the whole picture is imperative if you want to control reputation and influence.

In today’s marketing world, it is the customer who will control when and how they want to interact with your content – make sure you are where they want to “speak” with you!

to be honest with you – and myself – I have no idea exactly how to utilize the tools the way they are meant to be used or at least how others are talking about how they are meant to be used – I am however in a constant experiment as to how I would like or think they might be utilized for what I have to offer the world – in the way of blogs I have begun recently to have blogs that have specific focus for different types of images that I create – for example for Fifth Avenue in New York City:

and on Facebook I have created a number of general fan pages with topics that are of interest to me to perhaps draw diverse people from around the globe who might be interested in such general topic in hopes that I might have discussions with them and meet them in a more congenial setting:

but one thing I would like to mentions is that I am definitely not in a rush to see any specific results and in this way I am leaving things open for many relationships and opportunities to develop – many clients after first getting my business cards from my “Doubling Project”:

do not actually contact me – for 6 months -3 years and even up to 12 years later – and after that their repeat appearance in my studio and/or recommended new client might not occur until 4 years later in some cases –